August 25, 2011

Harry is an England U19 international who, having only just turned 18, already has 5 league goals to his name after a successful loan spell at Leyton Orient last season. A clever striker, who can also play anywhere across midfield, Kane has good technique and a genuine eye for goal. He has the physical presence which should allow him to make a fairly instant impact for the first team.

Tom Carroll

Tom is a cultured ball-playing midfield player, who prefers to play in the centre, but can play on the left (and has played left back). He has excellent technique and looked particularly comfortable in a deep-lying playmaker role in his time at Leyton Orient last season. If we can play the one and two touch football this evening that we did in the first leg, Tom will be at home.

Andros Townsend

Andros is a tricky winger who loves to beat his man and get to the by-line. He had a fantastic end of season for Millwall last year, and they were keen to sign him up again for this season. He excelled on his Spurs debut against Charlton in January, scoring a goal and putting in a man of the match performance.

You will find more information/reports on these players in my previous articles (for example, this Academy report). I wish them all the best of luck for this evening’s game.

Ryan Mason looked like he could be something good on loan at Doncaster….until he got injured a week or two ago. He scored 1 goal and set up 2 for them, but what impressed me was his drive when he got on the ball. It certainly does help kids like this when they have Modric, VDV, Bale etc around to learn off. But let’s temper hopes on Kane. It was not a particularly successful spell at Orient if you are looking at breaking into the first team at Spurs because he barely broke into the first team at Orient. His size isn’t enough on its own because Lee Barnard was big too, and has not made it. Wickham is big, and vastly more experienced than Kane, yet having a slow start to his Sunderland career. We have one spot for a striker, and that vastly limits Mr Kane’s chances. He really should go on loan soon.

Well windy these are yours and our boys i say yours because you always inform us of there talents. So now we wait and see who will rise to the challenge this is more exciting to me than Aby signing to see homegrown emerge not like City Cherry picked costing millions. Utd fans must have enjoyed there win because of the Youngsters shame about our under 18 start against Everton they have some good lads coming through and lack of money will help them get a chance. Davspurs.

elwehbi@ibleedhotspur – makes it much more exciting than it would otherwise be, doesn’t it?!

Anon @ 9:58 – I think Mason has really impressed everyone at Doncaster, and thankfully this injury was a knock sustained in a match rather than another niggle. He should be back soon, and hopefully he will pick up where he left off. Re: Kane – for a 17 year old, he did very well at Orient – some first team experience and then another loan spell will stand him in good stead. Kane is technically better than Barnard and Wickham IMO. Wickham is a good player, but I don’t think he will ever be prolific – Kane is a natural goal-scorer.

Davspurs – Exciting times! I think our U18 side will learn quickly, but we have thrown the youngsters in again and will see some defeats early on.

Everyone has a massive boner about Kane, so i hope if he doesnt perform, people dont get to disapointed and right him off. I think, his name, his looks, the fact he is a local lad and his impressive goalscoring record in the youth set up means everyone has got a bit overly excited but we have to remember he is VERY young and may not be ready for a few years yet. There’s a real problem with us fans (me included) in saying some1’s not good enough way to soon. I have written off Sandro, Rose and others before after a bad game or two. And I’m worried if Kane’s crap tonight, all the hype will be lost and no1 will care for him anymore!

Windy, I’ve been meaning to ask for sometime, and perhaps today is the best day as opinions may be proved or disproved later tonight, where do you stand on Harry Rednapp’s use of youngsters in the first team? I’ve seen many decry his lack of faith in youth and as many repeat the same few names in retort but there still hasnt been a steady flow of homegrown talent for a good while (I’m still waiting for the Caskey lad to come in to his own).

Personally I’m on the fence as I’ve always felt managers need to watch the developement of players over a sustained period and remember the likes of Leeds and QPR that had managers bundle 4-5 kids in and after the initial buzz watch them struggle and be forgotten about. Now though I would expect Harry to be in a position where some youth is brought in but I fear apart from potential showboating match ups in cups he’s reluctant to select them out of anything but last choice.

Having seen far more of our potential than me, how do you feel about it? is he holding back too much too long, are we lacking a little bit of the stuff it takes to make it in the premiership or can we expect this season to be the start of a new wave?

bonse – I think his use of the young lads has been mainly disappointing. At times last year we were struggling to break teams down and struggling to make up the numbers on the bench, players like Townsend or M’Poku could have genuinely made a difference (and M’Poku may not have left had he got a few cameos).

I agree with you about his reulctance. He has so far tended to wait until he absolutely had to use young players (Bale, Rose, Livermore), with only two exceptions – the Carling Cup match where he used Naughton/Livermore/Caulker/Sandro against Arsenal (you could tell he didn’t want to be in the competition in the pre-match interview) and the Europa League match on Thursday when we were 5-0 up! Don’t get me wrong – I was pleased to see some youngsters get a chance – but I just hope he doesn’t essentially say “right, they’ve had their chance now” and give up on them.

What I would like to see is at least one place on the bench (given that we fought so hard to get the seven subs) given up to a younger player most weeks, and to slowly get them involved more and more. The more exposure at this point, the better the long-term prospects IMO.

We saw Carroll look really competent on Thursday – the danger is that he will now be out on loan and out of the first team picture until at least next season. He needs to be kept around the first team squad – training with them and occasionally playing with them IMO.

Windy- I was pleased overall with their performance but fear that not scoring may have left them looking worse than they were from Harry’s point of view. That is to say, I get the impression that Harry wants a big performance from one so he can say right, your in, but doesnt consider the fact that having half the team in that position hampers them over all, with 5 youngsters in they cant be expected to perform as well as one youngster surrounded by 10 first teamers, there’s no one to pick up the inexperience slack and allow them to shine, unlike Bale, Rose and Livermore have had (although Livermore not so much right in the middle of a new partnership).

Carrol looks the business to me, I was quite pleased that he came into the middle early on when Hudd was limping, whether that was his/hudd’s initiative or Harry’s I don’t know, but it showed he could play. I quite liked the fact he dinked and jinked like Modric and snapped at ankles like him too, yet was quite happy to spray passes wide like Huddlestone. A big promise to live up to and worse, a position of the team it must be hard to break into when all are fit. I hope the ones that played are kept close but mostly I think we need to look at where our youngsters are being loaned to. Too many managers across the leagues mistake intimidation for motivation, the kids at Ipswich under Keane being a good example.

As a nucleus of a team I reckon what we saw on thursday has a future and hopefully will be kept together while they develop, however they have reached a point where to progress they need first team action in controlled doses.

When they were reviewing the subs situation a while back, I had an interesting conversation with an ex-referee about what he thought and he suggested that teams could have as many subs on the bench as they wanted, they could only use three and they all had to be current youth squad members, no 5 million 30 year old internationals. An interesting proposition, has down sides and upsides, but interesting as you follow it through.

bonse – I know exactly what you mean by your opening comment, and totally agree. I only hope that they get further chances in the EL to prove themselves. I’m sure that Townsend will, and probably Kane, but worry for Carroll and Fredericks, as he like a bigger, stronger player generally.

I think Carroll’s a cracking player – always wanting the ball, and always keeping the ball. Can’t help but think that were he at Arsenal he’d have already have some late sub appearances at least by this point in his career.

Interesting comments on subs rule – I’m not sure that would work, as there are too many players who are pleased to pick up a bonus from being a late sub, etc.